Wayne Shorter, jazz saxophonist and composer, dies at 89

Wayne Shorter, a Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer who helped cultivate the sound of contemporary jazz, has died.

He was 89.

Wayne Shorter dies at 89

Shorter died Thursday in Los Angeles surrounded by family, according to his publicist Cem Kurosman with Blue Note Records.

No cause of death was shared.

Music pioneer

Born in 1933 in Newark, N.J., Shorter is credited as one of the greatest jazz saxophonist in history, shaping much of 20th Century jazz music.

He has been nominated for 23 Grammy Awards during his profilic career and won 12 times. His first Grammy nomination was in 1973. Most recently, Shorter in January won a Grammy for best improvised jazz solo performance for “Endangered Species.”

Shorter attended New York University. Upon his graduation in 1952, he played with jazz pianist Horace Silver until he was drafted into the Army. He served for two years, per the artist’s biography on Bluenote.com.

Throughout the late ’50s and into the ’60s, Shorter joined various jazz groups and collaborated with artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Joe Zawinul and Art Blakey. In 1964, he was hand picked by legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis to join Davis’s Second Great Quintet band, with which he played until 1970.

Shorter had also released solo albums as early as 1959, including the acclaimed “Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer” and “JuJu”.

In the ’70s and ’80s, Shorter played with various jazz bands and musicians. He spent 15 with the group Weather Report, a group he co-founded, playing alongside Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous until 1985.

Later in his career, Wayne Shorter collaborated with various rock ‘n’ roll legends.

He toured with Carlos Santana in 1988, and played saxophone on the Rolling Stones’ 1997 hit album “Bridges to Babylon”. In 1998, Shorter was also featured on jazz pianist Herbie Hancock’s “Gershwin World” album.

Among the dozen awards he won, Shorter received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2015.